Kerry calls Mass. energy sector good example

Friday

Jan 25, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Edward Donga SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Although he is poised to become one of the leading players on the international stage, it was the skills that Sen. John F. Kerry first forged in Massachusetts politics that were often on display Thursday during a hearing on his nomination to become the Obama administration’s next secretary of state..

“Although John learned much about diplomacy overseas and in the Senate, he would be the first to tell you that Massachusetts is also a great teacher of diplomatic skills,” observed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in remarks during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.

By tradition, Ms. Warren, as the home-state senator of the nominee, “introduced” Mr. Kerry to the committee — notwithstanding that Mr. Kerry has served on the Foreign Relations panel for all of his 28-year Senate tenure, the last four as chairman. Also introducing Mr. Kerry were current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John McCain.

When it came time for Mr. Kerry to answer questions from his committee colleagues, he responded to one from Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., about the balance between climate change and the economy by citing Massachusetts as an example of how efforts to slow climate change can actually spur economic growth.

“I can tell you in Massachusetts the fastest growing sector of our economy is clean energy and energy efficiency companies,” Mr. Kerry said. “This is a job creator. I can’t emphasize that strongly enough.”

He went on to describe how other countries and individual states such as Massachusetts have jumped into the clean energy race, and said the federal government must follow suit.

In response to a question by Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM., about aiding Mexico in its efforts to crack down on the drug trade in that country — much of which ends up in the United States — Mr. Kerry recalled his time as an assistant district attorney prosecuting drug cases in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“I was the chief prosecutor in one of the 10 largest counties in America, Middlesex County,” Mr. Kerry said. “One of the things I learned is that there’s no one approach.”

Kerry then emphasized the need to focus on treatment, education and abstinence in addition to the traditional “war on drugs” strategy.

During her introduction, Ms. Warren described a shouting match between Mr. Kerry and then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over the alleged smuggling of Newton resident Colin Bower’s two sons to Egypt — by Mr. Bower’s former wife — to illustrate the length that Mr. Kerry would go for his constituents on the diplomatic front.

“Every senator here has a Colin Bower,” Ms. Warren said. “It’s what we do, fight for people back home.”

Ms. Warren might have given Mr. Kerry his highest praise of the day when she compared him to another long-tenured Massachusetts senator.

“I think one day historians will judge his Senate years in terms of his impact on foreign policy much the same way so many recognize Sen. Ted Kennedy’s impact on domestic policy,” Ms. Warren declared..